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NA Lions, Barbarians, To Semis In Dubai

NA Lions, Barbarians, To Semis In Dubai

11.30.2018 - Alex Goff

The North American Lions U19 select team will face the North American Barbarians in the semifinals of the Dubai 7s International U19 Men’s competition.

The two teams are drawn from top players around North America. The Lions tend to be a little more USA-heavy, combining players scouted though the Utah Lions Academy and Eagle Impact Rugby Academy, as well as Upright Rugby in Canada and Atlantis.

The North American Barbarians draw from the Celtic Barbarians Canadian program, with some others, including Atlantis. Kahuku HS out of Hawaii has a a strong presence, while former 5785 All-Star Joe Kamara is the captain.

The Lions opened pool play with a 26-7 defeat of Tygerberg HS, while the Barbarians defeated The Wild Dogs 42-0 (See Game Footage Here)

Up next, the Lions beat the All-Stars 24-10, while the Barbarians took down the Centurion Warriors 28-5.

With no third pool game, the Barbarians got an automatic win and a 3-0 record to take Pool E. Meanwhile, the Lions lost 29-14 to the KZN Barbarians in a game they didn’t need to win as they had the tiebreaker over Tygerberg. The Lions won pool B with a 2-1 record.

So that set up the quarterfinals, where the Barbarians downed the Peregines 24-5. The Lions needed to win to make the cup round, and did so, holding off Amdec Group 29-17.

So that leaves two more games in the competition. Central SA Invitational will take on the Germany U19 national team in one semifinal, and the two North American teams face off in the other. The winners play in the final at 5:01pm local time.